The Labyrinth Of The Soul

Disclaimer: Not mine, George Lucas owns all! He even has Darth Vader! Lucky man.

Edania: Yep a Snape fan, and I am glad you are liking this Labyrinth ff.

Toby’s Choice

Hoggle had led Toby down the wrong path with no qualms at all. He had wanted to treat Toby with kindness, but ever since Jareth appeared he had changed his mind. As he thought earlier, both of them can’t have her, and Hoggle was lonely without Sarah.

Toby followed Hoggle trustingly as Hoggle led him down every twisted and narrow pathway. Toby shrank away from the slimy walls. He wasn’t keen on ooze and grime. Hoggle kept a tight grip on Toby’s hand.

“Hoggle, are you sure it’s this way?” Toby asked.

“Certain, don’t you trust me?” Hoggle asked.

Toby cocked his head to one side; he remembered what Sarah had said about Hoggle when they first met. He didn’t want to think about what might happen to HIM if Hoggle decided to betray him. Sarah had said that she didn’t trust Hoggle and she ended up in a mess because of it.

“Of course,” Toby said. Hoggle turned to look at Toby.

“I am just taking you the shortest route, lad.”

Toby nodded and he allowed himself to be led by Hoggle. Hoggle led him down another dank alleyway. Toby shied further away from the lichen on the wall, the eyes on the ends freaked him out a bit.

Toby looked at his watch. There was only eight hours to go; Hoggle had better know what he was doing. If this were the short route then there would be nothing to worry about. Hoggle led him down the twists and turns.

Hoggle thought about Sarah in the Castle. He longed to see her for the rest of his life. He longed to finally have a wife, and he even wanted Jareth’s respect somewhat. He led Toby down a turning and they reached a dead end, with two doors.

Toby sighed, he was told of this place. Sarah said that she met Ludo at a strange courtyard with a tree in the middle and two doors with knockers that could talk. One had the knocker in his mouth, and the other had the knocker in his ear.

“What now?” Toby asked.
Hoggle sighed as he rolled his eyes.

“It’s very rude to stare!” The doorknocker with the knocker placed in his ears said.

“Sorry,” Toby said. “Look I have to get to the Castle beyond the Goblin City to save my sister.”

“WHAT?”

Toby repeated what he said in a louder tone.

“Oh, no need to shout! You have to knock one of us. The door will open. One of us leads almost straight to the castle, but you’ll have to go through the Bog of Eternal Stench first. And the other one will take you further away from the Castle, in fact it will take you back to the beginning of the Labyrinth.”

Toby shrugged his shoulders and then rolled them around. He looked down at Hoggle and Hoggle shrugged his shoulders.

“Wait a minute,” Toby said, pondering on what Sarah had told him. He looked at the doors and then it clicked inside his head. But he wanted to test his theory out by asking a few questions. “Do you know where the doors lead?”

“We’re just the knockers. We can’t tell you!”

Toby sighed. The rules hadn’t changed then. He smiled as the knowledge of that enlightened him. He knew exactly which one to go for. Hoggle had indeed led him to a short cut. He didn’t fancy walking through the Bog of Eternal Stench, but for Sarah he’d do anything.

“Okay,” Toby said. “I’ll try you!” He said to the deaf knocker.

“Why not try this one?” Hoggle said pointing to the mute knocker.

“Sarah told me she tried that one, and she got into trouble for it. I’ll try this one.”

Hoggle pulled Toby back and he dragged Toby down to his eye level. Hoggle began whispering in Toby’s ear. Toby frowned as he was listening.

“Listen, Toby, how do you know that the scenery hasn’t changed behind the doors? You know what this place is like. Jareth might have done it just because he was bored one day,” Hoggle said. “Just try the door that Sarah tried.”

“I don’t know, Hoggle, the last two doors didn’t change did they. The blue one still led to certain death.”

“But that doesn’t mean to say that these doors are still the same.”

“Hoggle, if you’re so sure about this then why don’t go through the door with the knocker in his mouth, and I’ll go through the door with the knocker in his ears?”

Hoggle sighed. He shook his head, but he had no choice but to agree with Toby, after all Toby would only get suspicious if Hoggle did not do what Toby suggested.

“But then we’d be separated,” Hoggle said.

“Not for too long, you know you’re way around. You’d be able to find me. And if I get lost I can always shout your name, I’m sure that you’ll be able to hear me wherever you are.”

Hoggle couldn’t argue with that. Well, Hoggle thought, technically he still could.

~*~*~

Sir Didymus had come back with food for him and his oversized brother. He looked at Ludo. He knew the news would excite the beast too much, but he couldn’t hold it in any longer. After the food was cooked Sir Didymus said:

“Do you know, Sir Ludo, whom Jareth has in his fortress?”

“Who?” Ludo asked as he munched on a dead Fiery.

Sir Didymus had bit into some chicken leg.

“Why, none other than our dear lost Maiden. It is Sarah, Ludo.”

Ludo’s dark eyes shined with joy at this piece of news. He threw away the rest of his Fiery and got up.

“Where dost thou go, Sir Ludo?”

“To see Sarah,” Ludo said in his booming voice.

“I don’t think his Majesty would let you, Ludo.”

Ludo scratched his head, and then he took a flea of his fur and swallowed it.

“Why not?” Ludo asked.

Sir Didymus sighed. He had to try to explain to Ludo that barging in uninvited was not the thing for a courtly, valiant knight such as he, to do.

“Because it is not done,” Sir Didymus said. “Besides, if Sarah needed us, she’d call.”

Ludo nodded his head and grunted.

~*~*~

Jareth was looking into a crystal ball to see what Hoggle was up to. He had made sure Sarah was occupied; he had sent a female goblin dressmaker. He smirked, as it seemed that Hoggle was doing his best to distract Toby from knocking on the right door.

He got bored on spying on Hoggle and decided to spy on Sarah for a bit. He twisted the globe in his hand, he then whispered to the globe.

“Show me Sarah,” Jareth said.

The globe clouded over a bit and then the hue turned purple before clearing to show Jareth, Sarah.

She was standing in the middle of the bedchamber. The goblin woman was pressing fabric upon fabric on Sarah’s skin. Sarah was glowing and shining amongst all the dresses the Goblin dressmaker was making with her special brand of magic.

Jareth had allowed some of his subject’s magic if it aided in their job, he felt that dressmaking was a career worthy of the gift. Besides he wanted Sarah to have a full wardrobe before her brother showed up.

He leant back against the windowsill and looked on as Sarah began to strip the last layer of fabric off her soft flesh. Flesh that Jareth had wanted to taste and touch again, and again.

He watched Sarah and he knew that she’d stay. She had almost confessed her love for him. All she needed was to acknowledge her feelings for him and there would be no point for Toby to finish the Labyrinth. As soon as Sarah would say to Jareth those three little words then Toby would be sent back home.

~*~*~

Sarah truly was enjoying herself. She had never had this much fun for a while. Something was nagging at the back of her mind but it was only a tiny inconsequential whisper that meant nothing to Sarah.

“Hows about this one, then Madam?” the goblinette asked.

“I like this minty green colour I do admit,” Sarah said. “I think silk is a beautiful fabric.”

“So yous wants a dress in that then?” the goblinette asked.

Sarah nodded. The goblinette flicked her wrist and almost instantly the fabric became a beautiful dress that took Sarah’s breath away. She touched it tentatively with her fingertips, and then she pressed the dress against her body and swirled girlishly around the room.

“Does miss want to try it on?”

Sarah nodded. She took the last dress off and put this one on. All she could think about with each and every dress was that: would Jareth like her better in this dress or in that one? Slowly but surely she was beginning to forget all about Toby.

~*~*~

Toby had gotten fed up of Hoggle’s arguments. He jerked his elbow out of Hoggle’s grip and strode purposefully towards the deaf knocker. Hoggle had no choice but to follow the brat. Toby was stubborn. Toby knocked on the deaf knockers door and the door opened.

Toby walked through the door, and Hoggle followed; albeit grudgingly; the door closed with a creak.

“Needs oiling,” Toby remarked cheerfully. He wrinkled his nose. “Hmm, we can’t be too far from the bog can we?”

Hoggle sighed. He would have to say to Jareth that he couldn’t distract this particular ten year old. Toby was made of stronger stuff than Sarah, and unlike Sarah wasn’t as trusting as his innocent looking face suggested.

Toby walked through the forest pathway and Hoggle dragged along behind. He thought of side stepping Toby to show him another way. But Toby would no longer listen to him; Hoggle knew that, perhaps Toby didn’t really need him after all. He thought of running away again. In fact Hoggle put thought into action.

Toby heard a rustle of bushes and the scampering of feet, and he turned to Hoggle but Hoggle wasn’t there. Toby frowned. Sarah had told him that Hoggle was a friend. Not much of a friend if you ask me, Toby thought to himself. That’s twice he ran out on me.

Toby felt himself growing a little more afraid. The forest was silent and eerie. There was some sort of grey fog covering the ground and no light managed to pierce its way through the dense forest. Toby gulped and looked down to his feet. He trusted them now.

~*~*~

Jareth decided to check back on Hoggle. Hoggle was alone, that wasn’t right. Jareth twisted the orb in his hand and the focus was on Toby. Damn that brat! He chose the right door. Jareth looked at the clock on the wall. It was showing him that Toby had exactly six hours to go.

Where he was he’d be here in less than three. He had to do something and fast. He didn’t want to force a confession out of Sarah but the rate that Toby was going he had no choice.

~*~*~

Toby battled his way through a bush and he ended up standing right near the edge of the Bog of Eternal Stench, there was a line of rocks that were fairly evenly placed. Toby was just about to step on the first rock when Sir Didymus leapt out in front of him pointing a sword at Toby’s chest.

“What is thou business knave?”

“I wish to cross the bog to get to Castle beyond the Goblin City, so that I may rescue my sister from the evil King Jareth.”

Sir Didymus lowered his sword and a misty look of nostalgia crept into his eyes.

“Toby?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah, that’s my name.”

“You were just a babe when we last met,” Sir Didymus said softly.

“Ten years goes so fast doesn’t it?” Toby asked grinning. “Look, do I have your permission to cross the bog?”

Sir Didymus stepped aside, and Toby stepped on the first rock.

“Wait, Sirrah, my esteemed brother and I shalt accompany thee on the rest of thy perilous quest.”

“You mean you want to help?” Toby asked.

“Yes,” Sir Didymus replied.

“Okay,” Toby said. “I’ll walk to the other side and I’ll wait for you and your brother.”

Toby stepped onto the rocks and ran across the bog swiftly and expertly. He turned around and waited for Sir Didymus. Sir Didymus was on his noble steed Ambrotius. Then Ludo turned up. Toby looked up at Ludo and gulped. Sir Didymus ran along the stepping-stones, which made an unpleasant squelching sound. When Ludo walked across them they made such a funny raspberry like noise that it made Toby laugh.

“Sarah brother?” Ludo asked Toby.

“Yeah, I am.”

~*~*~

Hoggle couldn’t believe he’d run away again. But he was confused; he didn’t know what to do. He seriously wanted to do the right thing. But what was the right thing? What could he do? What did he want more? Sarah’s happiness or his own happiness?

Hoggle was about to make his way back to Toby and to tell the boy the truth. He made a u-turn and was just about to make his way back to Toby when he was grabbed by the scruff of his neck and dragged into a dark cave.

“What do you think you are doing?” a cold voice asked in the dark.

“I was going back to the boy, Your Majesty.”

“Oh leave him Hoggle. It might actually be worth it to see the look on his face when Sarah tells him she’s going to stay.”

“She might not,” Hoggle muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Jareth asked pinching the top lobe of Hoggle’s ear.

“Nothing!” Hoggle exclaimed between clenched teeth.

“If you do make it back to the boy then I would say that you keep quiet. IF I find out that you tell him the truth about our dealings, I would DEFINITLY personally dangle you in the bog. Got that!”

“YES!” Hoggle screamed as Jareth twisted the skin of the lobe.

“Good, Hogbrain, now be on your way.”

Jareth waved his wrist and he disappeared. Only to reappear in front of Hoggle, Hoggle sighed. What did he want this time?

“Just remember what could be yours, Hoggle!” Jareth exclaimed.

He took a few steps back and disappeared for good.

~*~*~

Time was ticking; Toby was going to be there in just a couple of hours. Jareth had a future Queen to seduce. He strode up to the door of Sarah’s bedchamber and opened the door.

“Jareth,” Sarah said as she saw his reflection in her mirror. She flew to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Like my new dress?”

A/N More reviews would be nice, please!